Door closer and check.



H. G. VOIGHT.

DOOR CLOSER AND CHECK.

APPLICATION FILED 11:11.14, 1913.

Patented Jan. 20, 1914.

NTED STATES HENRY e. voienm, ornnw Balmain, containerreur.

DOOR CLOSER. AND CHECK.

specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jim. 29, 191%.

Application filed February 14,1t'913. Serial No. 748,351.

To all Awhomt may concern Be it known that I, HENRY Gr. VOIGHT,

`a citizen of the United States, residing at New Britain, Hartford county, State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Door Closers and Checks, of which the 'following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to closer and check devices and more especially to an improved form of combined closer andchecking cylinder particularly useful in connect-ion with sliding doors, and of the eneral type shown in my prior U. S. Patent o. 1,028,833, dated June 4,1912.

The present invention is described in detail in the following specification, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings forming part thereof and illustrating a preferable embodiment of my invention.

1n the drawings: Figure 1 is a longitudinal verticalv section thnough the power cylinder with the piston at the end of its power stroke. Fig. 2 is a similar viewwiththe piston retracted. Fig, 3 is a detail view in elevation of the piston head. Fig. 4 is a detail vertical sectional View of the piston head and checking tube, detached.

Referringto the drawings by numerals, 1 indicates-a closed cylinder adapted to contain fluid, such as air or oil, this cylinder having Iat one end a head 2 in threaded engagement with the cylinder end and provided with a suitable packing 3, this head also preferably having a boss 4 centrally apertured to receive the piston rod and provided with a packing 5. lThe opposite end of the cylinder is provided with a second head 6 likewise i-n threaded engagement with the cylinder end and having an interposed packing 8, this head 6 having preferably cast or otherwise formed integrally therewith an attaching arm 7 by means of which the cylinder may be mounted upon a suitable bracket or other supporting device.

Mounted within the cylinder l and reciprocating longitudinally therein isa hollow cupped piston9 havlng an integr-al bifurcated head 10 extendingyupwardly therefrom providing openings or slots 11 between its arms, this head 10 being suitably connected to the lower end of a piston rod 12 which extends therefrom through the head 2 of thecylinder. The lower end of the piston body 9 is provided with an aperture forming a Huid escape passage; which aperture is controlled by a check valve 13 of suitable form. A coiled spring 14 of desirable strength is seated within the cylinder, .one end resting against the head 2 thereof and the other end engaging the piste-n 9 and normally tending to force the same downwardly toward the head 6 of the cylinder. A. supplemental coiledspring 15, preferably of smaller size, is mounted upon the piston rod 12 over the head 10 of the piston and is normally inactive, but when the pisvton is moved upwardly against the force of the springlt, the spring 15 is brought against the head 2 of the vcylinder and is compressed, serving to check extreme compression of the main spring 14: and lacting to supplement the force vtending to ret-urn the piston to the opposite end of the cylinder and in effect forming a sort of kick-'off spring.

The base of the piston 9 is provided with a second aperture therein forming a second fluid escape passage, a sleeve 16 being preferably inserted through this aperture and being secured to the wall of the piston. A valve tube 17 is rigidly carried bythe head 6 of the cylinder, being screwed through said head in line with the opening through the sleeve 16 of the piston.A Thistube tapers from its upper end downwardly, the crosssectional area of 'the upper end being less than that of the sleeve opening 16, and at its lower end substantially corresponding to the area of said sleeve opening. This tube is provided with a threaded lower end 18 having a threaded engagement with the cyly inder head 6, and having a fluid escape passage 19 therethrough terminating in a transverse by-'pass 20 which communicates with the interior 'of the cylinder adjacent its v head 6. The lower end of this valve tube 1T is interiorly threaded and receives -the threaded shank of a pin 21 whose upper end is adapted to be positioned adjacent the bypass 20 and to vary the size of the passage from said by-pass to the fluid escape passage 19 of the valve tube, this pin 21 forming with said by-pass a needle valve. In order to limit the degree to which the by-pass 20 'may be closed, a stop nut 22 is provided, this nut having a threaded engagement with the lower end of thehead -18 of the valve tube.

The upper end of the piston rod 12 is the operating mechanism of a sliding door,

as 1n my prior patent hereinbefore referred to.

From the foregoing description -it will be evident that the device operates as follows: Assuming that the arm 7 at the lower head of the cylinder and the piston' rod 12 are' appropriately connected, the one to a suitable abutment and the other to -an operating mechanism such as described, this operating mechanism is actuated to move the piston rod and piston upwardly from the position shown in Fig. 1 to that shown in Fig. 2, compressing the coiled spring 14, and adjacent the end of the compressing movement, like- WiseV compressing the auxiliary spring 15 and placing it under tension also.. On the upward movement of the piston, the check valve 13 opens, permitting the air, oil or Vother fluid wit in the cylinder, to pass freely from the upper side of the piston to its lower side, this being yfacilitated by the large escape area a'orded by the openings 11 and the cupped piston. When the operating mechanism is released, the'tension of the coiled springs 14-15 'moves the `piston 9 in the opposite direction o-r toward the-headl 6 of the cylinder. On this downward movement of the piston, the check valve 13 closes and the valve tube 17 guides through the' cylinder 16 of the piston, the tapering form of this tube progressively decreasing the size of the Huid escape passage through said sleeve. --All the while that the piston is descending, the Huid is escaping through the by-pass 20, thence upwardly through the passage 19 and through the piston to the opposite end of the cylinder. rllhe greater amount of fluid, however, upon the initial descendin movement of the piston, escapes through J51e sleeve` passagev 16, but as the piston continues to descend, the area of this sleeve passage is progressively decreased because of the tapering form of the tube 17 so that as the piston nears the lowerend of its stroke, the total area of iui'd escape openings becomes progressively restricted, the minimum opening being that through the progressive decrease in the size of theescape passage 16 coupled with the valvecontrolled by-pass' andoutlet passage 20-19,

'the return of the piston is gradually checked,

this checking being accomplished in a very 'smooth manneri Furthermore, by means 'of the needle valve 21, the rate of the return.

movement of the piston may be regulated to a-nicety. l

While I have herein ldescribed a specific embodiment of my invention, it should be understood that t-he same may be altered in detail vand relative arrangement of .parts within the spirit of the invention and the scope of the appended claim.

What I claim, therefore, and desire to secure byLetters Patent is: l

In a device of the character described, in combination, a cylinder adapted to contain fluid, a cupped piston in said cylinder having integral bifurcated arms extending therefrom, a piston 4rod operatively connected to said arms, said piston having a fluid escape passage in its base closed by a valve in one direction of movement of the piston and having a second fluid escape passage therein, a stationary tapering tube at one end of said cylinder in, line with the second fluid passage of said piston, said tube being hollow with its upper end open and its lower end closed and having a by-pass at its lower closed end communicating with the -interior vof the cylinder, and a coiled spring within said cylinder acting against said piston and normally tend-U Y- ing to move the same in a Idirection to guide on said tube whereby said tube progressively decreases the size of said second escape passage with the movement of said piston toward said tube and progressively enlarges the size of said escape passage upon reverse movement of said piston and a valve controlled from the exterior of the cylinder and arranged to vary the effective area of 'said by-pass.

. HENRY G. VOIGHT.

Witnesses: l "GWENDOLINE A. JACKSON,

CHARLES E. RUSSELL.` 

